246.101 Definitions.
246.102 Policy.
246.103 Contracting office
responsibilities.
246.104 Contract administration
office responsibilities.
246.101 Definitions.
“Metrology” is the science of
weights and measures used to determine conformance to technical requirements
including the development of standards and systems for absolute and relative
measurements.
“Quality” means the composite
of material attributes including performance features and characteristics of a
product or service to satisfy a given need.
“Quality assurance” is a
planned and systematic pattern of all actions necessary to provide adequate
confidence that adequate technical requirements are established; products and
services conform to established technical requirements; and satisfactory
performance is achieved.
“Quality audit” is a
systematic examination of the acts and decisions with respect to quality in
order to independently verify or evaluate the operational requirements of the
quality program or the specification or contract requirements of the product or
service.
“Quality program” is a
program which is developed, planned, and managed to carry out cost-effectively
all efforts to effect the quality of materials and services from concept exploration
and definition through demonstration and validation, engineering and
manufacturing development, production and deployment, and operations and
support.
246.102 Policy.
Departments and agencies
shall also—
(1) Develop and manage
a cost effective quality program to ensure that contract performance conforms
to specified requirements. Apply the
quality program to all contracts for services and products designed, developed,
purchased, produced, stored, distributed, operated, maintained, or disposed of
by contractors.
(2) Conduct quality
audits to ensure the quality of products and services meet contractual
requirements.
(3) Base the type and
extent of Government contract quality assurance actions on the particular
acquisition.
(4) Provide contractors
the maximum flexibility in establishing efficient and effective quality
programs to meet contractual requirements.
Contractor quality programs may be modeled on military, commercial,
national, or international quality standards.
246.103 Contracting office
responsibilities.
The contracting office may
conduct product-oriented surveys and evaluations to determine—
(1) The adequacy of the
technical requirements relating to quality; and
(2) Product conformance to design intent. Consider conducting the surveys and evaluations in conjunction with the activity responsible for technical requirements.
(a) Contracting offices
are also responsible for—
(i) Assisting the technical activity in
improving the quality requirements for contracts when first identified for
competitive acquisition; and
(ii) Assisting in determining the cause of
problems noted in user experience reports.
(b) The contracting
office must coordinate with the quality assurance activity before changing any
quality requirement.
(c) The activity
responsible for technical requirements may prepare instructions covering the
type and extent of Government inspections for acquisitions that are complex,
have critical applications, or have unusual requirements.
(i) In preparing the instructions, the technical
activity shall consider, as applicable—
(A)
The past quality history of the contractor;
(B)
The criticality of the material procured in relation to its intended
use, considering such factors as—
(1) Reliability;
(2) Safety;
(3) Interchangeability; and
(4) Maintainability;
(C)
Problems encountered in the development of the material;
(D)
Problems encountered in other procurements of the same or similar
material;
(E)
Available feed-back data from contract administration, receiving,
testing, or using activities; and
(F)
The experience of other contractors in overcoming manufacturing
problems.
(ii) The
instructions shall—
(A)
Be kept to a minimum;
(B) Comply with 246.470-2; and
(C)
Be prepared on a contract-by-contract basis.
(iii) The instructions shall not—
(A) Serve as a substitute for incomplete contract quality requirements;
(B) Impose greater inspection requirements than are in the contract;
(C) Use broad or general designations such as—
(1) All requirements;
(2) All characteristics; or
(3) All characteristics in the classification of
defects;
(D)
Be used for routine administrative procedures; or
(E)
Specify continued inspection requirements when statistically sound
sampling will provide an adequate degree of protection.
(iv) After issuing the instructions, the
technical activity—
(A)
Must provide the contract administration office available information
regarding those factors which resulted in the requirement for Government
inspection;
(B)
Must periodically analyze the need to continue, change, or discontinue
the instructions; and
(C)
Must advise the contract administration office of the results of the
periodic analyses.
246.104 Contract administration
office responsibilities.
(f) The contract administration office shall continue to follow any specific written instructions received from the contracting office until the contracting office acts on a recommendation.